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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28372437">12 Days of Lena</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearpantaloons/pseuds/bearpantaloons'>bearpantaloons</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, all the many times lena was a dramatic ho, and all the times kara brought her back into the light, brief christmas angst, kind of a lena luthor character study, or an excuse for me to write about her</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:46:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,921</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28372437</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearpantaloons/pseuds/bearpantaloons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Luthors never celebrated holidays and Lena hasn't separated that part of her from her family quite yet. After a tiny argument between herself and Kara, Lena finds herself alone on Christmas left only with a book recounting her relationship with the Kryptonian, as well as past events that led up to this exact moment.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>132</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Supercorp Content Creators' Guild Secret Santa Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>12 Days of Lena</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/NataliaWhite92/gifts">NataliaWhite92</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Happy holigays, everyone! This is an exchange piece for my amazing friend, Amelia. To the best hypewoman around, thank you for your friendship this past year and a half. I'm so fortunate to know you. &lt;3</p><p>Hope you all enjoy it. Also, don't try to count the exact number of things in each section, because they're more like guidelines and I didn't want this to end up being a 50k word one-shot. Fill in the blanks. :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Lena met Kara, it was as if she was struck by lightning the second their hands touched, her entire body coming alive and her mind hyperfocusing on this one, intelligent and exceptional woman – a reporter, or at least that’s what Lena thought she was. But when Kara said she was just there to accompany Clark Kent for a story, she feared that it would be the only time they’d see each other, so she planted a seed – an idea – made Kara think she <em>could</em> be a reporter. That’s what Lena was good at: ideas. Her entire career was founded on all of the different ideas she’s had and how she could implement them and tweak them to make them useful and applicable to the population. Her brain was her best asset, so her mother told her, but it was never quite as good as Lex’s. So, she spent her childhood and early adulthood trying to prove herself, trying to win her mother’s love by coming up with ideas that would ultimately get shot down and thrown deep inside some dark closet of Lena’s mind along with her shame.</p><p>The second time Lena met Kara, she was being pulled out of a falling helicopter. She didn’t know it was Kara at the time, no longer a mousey wannabe reporter, but now <em>Supergirl</em>. The Girl of Steel. National City’s hero. Supergirl was an enigma that was so untouchable, so mysterious.</p><p>She was an idea.</p><p>Lena didn’t know why she was the one being saved. After all the things her family had done, her name being what it was, why was she given a second chance? She asked Kara about it later on, when she knew Supergirl and Kara were the same person and Kara had just looked at her, shrugged, and said, “Because you’re you. Why wouldn’t I save you?” It was as simple as that.</p><p>Now, Christmas has never been a holiday celebrated by the Luthors. In fact, the only holiday that they did celebrate was Lex’s birthday, which wasn’t even a holiday at all. When they were younger, they held enormous parties full of food and desserts, anything Lex wanted and as they got older, Lex threw his own parties, replacing food and dessert with booze and drugs.</p><p>So, when Kara asked Lena what she was doing for Christmas, and Lena had told her ‘probably working,’ Kara’s eyes bulged out of their sockets, her jaw fell to the floor, and it looked like she was about to vomit up the six plates of potstickers she just ate.</p><p>“I work every Christmas, Kara,” Lena said simply as if it was the most normal thing for a person to do.</p><p>“You worked last year? Where was I? Why didn’t you spend it with me?”</p><p>Lena continued signing her name on some forms and didn’t look up. “You spent it in Midvale, remember? I had a business trip in Beijing and you tried to convince me to let you come fly over on Christmas Eve and you’d head back early Christmas morning, but I told you to stay with your family.”</p><p>“Oh yeah,” Kara pouted. “Who holds business meetings during Christmas? Fun-suckers, that’s who. Well, you’re going to be here this year, so why are you still working?”</p><p> “Because it’s what I do, Kara. Christmas is just another day.”</p><p>“How long have we known each other?” Kara asked.</p><p>Lena sighed and flipped through another page. “I don’t know, seven years?”</p><p>“Yes! You turned thirty this year. We’ve been together for ten percent of your entire lifetime, and in that time, you should know that I would never accept the response of <em>Christmas is just another day</em> from anyone, especially not someone I love. I just want to spend the holidays with you.”</p><p>Finally looking up, Lena asked, “What do you want me to say? I have evaluations to complete, mergers to oversee, a family to ignore, and I apparently also have a needy girlfriend to deal with.” She immediately regretted those words as they slid across her tongue to Kara’s ears. The eyebrows behind those ridiculous glasses furrowed and crinkled and Kara took a step back, away from Lena’s desk. Back to the shy reporter who thought Lena was one of the most intimidating, yet brilliant, people in the world. It wasn’t Kara’s fault that Lena was incapable of separating work and personal life, or that she didn’t know how to switch off. It was something that they’d been working on the past year, and Lena was getting better. No more working overnight and sleeping in her office, no more working on Sundays, but Lena had convinced herself long ago that if she didn’t keep on top of everything, it would all fall apart. Still, it wasn’t Kara’s fault.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I’ve—”</p><p>“No, you’re right,” Kara interrupted. “You’re under a lot of pressure right now and I should be considerate of that. I’m going to go. I’ll see you at home?” She didn’t wait for a response and turned to leave the office as quickly as she could without super-speeding out and confusing Lena’s assistant.</p><p>Leaning back in her chair, Lena frowned at her stack of paperwork and threw her pen down on top of it, feeling a migraine coming on. She quickly packed up her things and told her assistant to go home while she called her drive to come pick her up.</p><p>She rehearsed what she was going to say to Kara in the elevator on the way down to the ground floor, thought about how she was going to apologize this time. She truly didn’t know how Kara had the patience to deal with her, but she was grateful that she did.</p><p>On the way home, Lena had her driver stop at Kara’s favorite Chinese restaurant to pick up some apology potstickers. Kara must have had the same idea, because there were four bouquets of Lena’s favorite flowers in the entryway of her penthouse. She hung her jacket up and set her purse down before making her way further in when she heard music playing through the speakers. She carefully made her way into the kitchen, where Kara was bopping around to the beat and speed-chopping some things on a cutting board. When she saw Lena, she stopped, smiled sheepishly and turned down the music.</p><p>“Hey,” she said.</p><p>“Hi,” Lena replied, bracing her hands on the edge of the counter. She hated apologizing, not because it meant she was in the wrong, but because it meant she had hurt someone. “What are you making? It smells divine.”</p><p>“Oh, it’s just Tuscan salmon. I’ve wanted to try this recipe for a while.”</p><p>Lena nodded and tapped her fingers on the counter, trying to muster up the will to apologize. “I’m sorry about before, in my office. I was unfair to you and you didn’t deserve my frustration.”</p><p>Kara stepped away from the stove. “No, babe, I’m sorry. I know your family never celebrated holidays, and I know how hard you need to work, but I just worry that sometimes you forget that you’re not doing all of this alone anymore. You have me and Alex and Sam. We’re here for you and you can delegate some things. Sam’s still your CFO and I can help with projects, too. Not to toot my own horn, but youngest Science Guild member right here.” She smiled and raised her right hand.</p><p>A smile spread across Lena’s lips as she ducked her head. “You’re right. You’re always right. Still, I’m sorry. I know how important holidays and Earth customs are to you.”</p><p>Kara took another step forward and wrapped her arms around Lena’s waist. “I’ll tell you what, we’ll compromise. You can stay home for Christmas, we can talk on the phone or wherever, but when I get home, you have to let me do something special for you. It can just be the two of us.”</p><p>Lena rested her head on Kara’s shoulder and let out a deep breath. “Okay, I think I can handle that.”</p><p>Leaning back, Kara grinned widely before planting a tender kiss on Lena’s lips and forehead. “Dinner should be almost done. Go change and I’ll get everything ready.” When Lena got back, the table was set and Kara was sitting down, pouring two glasses of wine. They ate and Lena told Kara all about the projects she was working on, and Kara excitedly told Lena all of her Danvers Family Christmas plans.</p><p>True to her word, Kara called her on Christmas morning and they FaceTimed for a while until it was time to open presents. Before they hung up, Kara told Lena to check her nightstand drawer for something and when she did, she found a leather-bound book titled <em>The Twelve Days of Lena</em>. Inside were pages and pages of handwritten notes and letters to her from Kara, recounting their life together. So, it started from the beginning.</p>
<hr/><p>XII. Twelve Times Lena Was Disappointed by Her Family</p><p>In the book she left, Kara explained that she was doing the <em>Twelve Days of Lena</em>, but backwards, because she doesn’t know the meaning of conventional, and each day, Lena was to read a new chapter. Day Twelve was regarding each time she’d been disappointed by her family, which, Lena thought, was a little dire for a Christmas Day read, but she carried on.</p><p>The feeling of disappointment was a constant in Lena’s life, from the time when her mother passed away to being adopted by the Luthors and having her previous identity stripped away from her. Lillian refused to allow her to keep her Irish accent and immediately enrolled her in finishing school, so she could learn how to be a proper lady.</p><p>Lionel tried to make her feel like part of the family, but he’s where Lena got her worth ethic – and her drinking habit. When he died, Lena felt like she had to take over his mantle and help her brother fulfil his legacy. Lex was away at boarding school most of her childhood, but when he came home, he took a special interest in his new sister and they’d work on projects together, so when Lena found out that his obsession with Superman was turning him into a tyrannical madman, she realized that her family, or her idea of it, was never going to be what she wanted. They were always going to let her down.</p><p>Kara changed that. She showed her that family didn’t always have to be related by blood and they didn’t always disappoint – at first, at least. In the book Kara left her, she recounted all of the times that all of them had disappointed her, the biggest betrayal being Kara keeping her identity from Lena. It brought back a wave of emotions, remembering how she felt after Lex told her, and later when she confronted Kara about it. It had been years since then, but the sting still bit at her skin at the thought of something like that happening again.</p><p>For the past few years, Kara had done her part to try to earn Lena’s trust again, and she did, for the most part, but it was still one of those things that stuck to the back of her mind and wouldn’t dislodge itself. When Kara was out doing Supergirl duties and didn’t come home until well after four in the morning, was she really helping the city or the DEO? Did she have a secret girlfriend or boyfriend? Another secret life? It was ridiculous to think about, but Lena couldn’t help it. Her family taught her that trust was a double-edged sword and that kindness was a luxury that Luthors didn’t get to have, not in their line of work.</p><p>But that all changed once Lena moved to National City. Her brother once told her that no matter how dark things got, how far her family’s shadow cast over her life, she’d always fall back into the light. She idly wondered if he would still say the same thing if he knew that Supergirl was her light, if he knew that Kara Danvers was the one who circled her orbit and made sure she stayed true to herself. Something told her he wouldn’t, but Lena couldn’t help but feel Kara’s gravity pulling her closer. Meeting Kara reminded her that she didn’t have to follow in her mother and brother’s footsteps. Their long shadows cast themselves across Lena’s life, but Kara never gave up on her and pulled her into the light time and time again.</p>
<hr/><p>XI. Eleven Times Lena Felt Loss</p><p>The first time Lena felt loss was when her mother died. They were relaxing at a lake near their country home, something they did often, so Lena never thought something bad would happen. At four years old, you never think the worst, anyway. Losing her mother was the beginning of a long web of chain reactions that would ultimately make her wonder why she wasn’t the one who drowned. Was losing her mother really worth whatever it was that she was creating or fixing? It was fate’s cruel joke that landed her with the Luthors – a wealthy family who replaced love with money and power.</p><p>She’d never had a sibling before, so she didn’t know what to expect from Lex, didn’t know how a brother should act. He did teach her about chess and science, those things she’d read in books about families, but when he discovered Superman and that obsession took over, he changed. Lena didn’t have any references to draw back on to understand why her brother became so hellbent on destroying one person. When he was sent to prison, Lena not only lost her brother, but also lost the idea of what a brother was. He’d manipulated her for years, tried to get her to get on board with his schemes and when she didn’t agree, he sent people to kill her once every few months as a reminder that he still could even behind bars.</p><p>Then there was Jack, the only man she loved. He came back into her life and swept her off her feet much like the first time and it was almost like she’d never moved away, never left him behind. She thought she was getting a second chance, a re-do. So, when she had to make a choice between Jack and Supergirl, she chose to kill Jack. She lost her love.</p><p>Finding out that Lionel really was her father was a different kind of loss. It was hidden by years of lying and secrets, of Lionel looking at her tenderly, but Lena just thought he was being nice and felt guilty about a poor little Irish orphan girl that he felt he had to save when he saw her on a business trip. But knowing that she <em>did</em> have a father and not knowing until after he’d died made her hate lies. Her relationships with the Luthors were built on lies and so was her relationship with Kara Danvers.</p><p>That’s why learning about Supergirl’s identity hurt so much, and Kara knew it. She explained in the book that Lena was betrayed by the one person she never thought would lie to her, the only person who believed in her as much as Kara did. So, when she found out that she’d been lied to for years and everyone else around her knew, she didn’t only see red, but she saw red and blue. All of her friends, her <em>family</em>, they had to have been laughing at her for not catching on sooner, and the thought of that broke her. The loss of her mother and father paled in comparison to the loss of her life in National City. She thought about moving away, moving back to Metropolis, but she had something to prove first. She wanted everyone who’d been laughing behind her back to know what it felt like to feel as betrayed as she did, so she worked with Lex. She knew that would have hurt Kara, to see her switch sides, work with the person who wanted to kill her cousin, but in the end, that wasn’t Lena. A tearful apology and nights upon nights of awkward dinners later, Kara forgave her, and eventually, Lena forgave herself.</p>
<hr/><p>X. Ten Times Lena Was Saved by Supergirl</p><p>The next chapter made Lena wonder if Kara was flexing to show off, but what Kara meant by it was that Lena didn’t deserve any of the assassination attempts, targeting, or any of the ire from the general population. Lena was <em>good</em>, so Kara took it upon herself to make sure that every knew that and ensure that Lena was never harmed. Ever since the helicopter incident, Kara knew that Lena was righteous and could handle herself, but even heroes needed help sometimes. Lena read over that part again – Kara calling <em>her</em> a hero. It felt strange to think of herself as a hero; she was just a person trying to do good, but that’s really all heroes are, aren’t they?</p><p>Lena could count on one hand the number of people who’d cared enough about her to worry about her well-being, and Kara took up at least three of those spots. Before she knew that Supergirl and Kara were the same person, Lena swore that Supergirl had a crush on her with the amount of times she’d shown up to save her. Supergirl always happened to be at the right place at the right time and after giving Lena the watch, she’d know when she was needed.</p><p>Whether Lena was being kidnapped by aliens, being thrown off of buildings, Kara was there. And, Lena realized, Kara also saved her from herself. After Kara revealed who she really was, and Lena felt the bitter taste of betrayal, she lost herself.</p><p>If Kara thought she was so good, why did she keep something like that from her for so long?</p><p>So, Lena did what she thought she was destined to do and became the worst version of herself – a Luthor that would make her mother and brother proud. Again, Kara was there, fighting for Lena, fighting for her humanity.</p>
<hr/><p>VIII. Nine Times Lena Saved National City</p><p>Lena hadn’t expected to become the savior of National City, not when it had Supergirl, but that was exactly why it needed her. A Luthor and a Super, an unconventional duo that no one would have expected to work together teaming up to save the city from its monsters and also from itself. Nothing could have prepared Lena for her role with Supergirl and the DEO. She thought she would restart L-Corp after its rebranding, get it off its feet, and move back to Metropolis or maybe Star City, but the longer she stayed, the more the city needed her.</p><p>With countless alien invasions and fights between them and Supergirl, Lena took it upon herself to find ways to help, whether it be through her advanced technology or looking at things differently and solving problems. It wasn’t until the Daxamite invasion and Rhea’s betrayal that Lena second-guessed her meddling. Was it worth it getting involved when she always got hurt in the end? It was worth it if she was helping Kara.</p><p>As she read through Kara’s writing, she was reminded of how she saved billions of people during the Crisis, how she and Alex worked together to create the portal to transport those people away from the doomed planet even though she owed them nothing. This city that did nothing but try to vilify her time and time again, even after all the good she did, and yet, she had a soft spot for it – or a soft spot for a certain Kryptonian. </p><p>All the times Lena’s saved the city, the most difficult was probably saving it from Reign. That was her friend and watching her lay waste to buildings and nearly killing Supergirl, Lena knew she had to do something. Working with synthetic and the Harun-El, Lena knew that she was playing with fire when it came to the DEO and Supergirl, but she had to save her friend. And Supergirl.</p><p>When she developed <em>Non Nocere</em>, she thought she was saving the human population, saving them from the pain and suffering she’d endured all her life. She thought that by removing the urge to hurt and lie, it would be some sort of course correction, a way to give people the opportunities that Lena was never afforded, but it took nearly losing Kara and herself to realize that she wasn’t saving anyone. Rather, she was selfishly trying to rewrite history and mold her hurt and pain into something tangible, something she could control. But seeing how much she hurt others, how much she hurt Kara, that’s what finally made her realize that she’d made a mistake. She wasn’t saving humanity; she was trying to turn it into something it wasn’t. Without pain, you can’t have peace. Without hatred, you can’t have love.</p>
<hr/><p>VIII. Eight Times Lena Had Articles Written About Her (by Kara)</p><p>Before Kara Danvers, most of the articles about Lena centered around her family, her name, or how long it would take her to follow in her brother’s footsteps. She used to save the slanderous articles about her and her company, stick them in a folder for safekeeping, so she could review them at a later time when she was feeling particularly masochistic. That all changed when she met Kara. Kara saw something in her that no one else did – a woman who existed beyond a name, someone who wanted to do <em>good</em>. At first, it was frustrating how easily Kara wormed her way into Lena’s life, how she effortlessly created scenarios where they could meet and talk, how simple it was to lower the drawbridge to her heart and become friends.</p><p>Each new article that Kara wrote became more and more biased, and Lena could tell. Kara was good at masking her feelings for Lena in her writing, but she could tell when Kara was adding an inside joke or something specifically for Lena to find in the articles. It made her feel special. After a while, Kara’s face in the crowd became the norm. Every product reveal, every press release, Kara was there. It gave Lena something to focus on while she spoke and knowing that there would be at least one glowing article about her was enough.</p><p>Even when they weren’t speaking, and Kara had no reason to say nice things about Lena or L-Corp, she still found ways to make her sound better than Lena was expecting. She’d never had someone in her corner the way Kara was, so when she thought she lost that, when she thought she was truly alone, there was no reason for her to hold onto the idea of who she was – who Kara thought she was.</p><p>In the end, the person Kara thought Lena was happened to be the reality. As much as Lena hated the lying and the secrets, she couldn’t stay mad forever, especially after nearly killing Supergirl and seeing what her brother was doing. She couldn’t stand idly by while Lex wreaked havoc on National City under the guise of the Director of the DEO. None of it was right and she needed to work alongside Supergirl and the rest of the people who’d lied to her if she wanted to get anything done. She hated to admit it, but she needed help.</p><p>And so, once her brother was defeated yet again, things went back to relative normality. She and Kara started talking again, gradually. It was through text messages first, then lunch, then Lena went back to game nights and they shared holidays and dinners and sleepovers like old times.</p><p>Then Kara kissed her.</p>
<hr/><p>VII. Seven Times Lena and Kara Had a Friendiversary</p><p>Each year, Kara came up with something new to celebrate their friendiversary. Lena thought it was foolish at first. Who celebrated having friends? Maybe it was because she’d never really had any – none who’d stuck around, anyway – or maybe it was just because she hadn’t met Kara yet. After the first year, Kara surprised Lena at her office and brought her lunch and a handmade card. It had a picture of Tony the Tiger on the inside, telling Lena that she was grrrrrrrrrrreat.</p><p>The subsequent anniversaries were filled with little gifts, or things that reminded Kara of Lena and their friendship. One year, she was given her own custom-made version of Monopoly that Kara had made for her. L-Corp and CatCo took Boardwalk and Park Place’s spots, of course. Lena, in turn, had gotten Kara a year’s supply of vanilla ice cream from a Danish creamery she’d visited one summer.</p><p>On their third year of being friends, they weren’t actually friends anymore. Lena found out Kara was Supergirl and all of her ‘friends’ had taken her for a fool and treated her like some common acquaintance who couldn’t deal with the knowledge that her best friend was the city’s Girl of Steel. It took her a long time to understand that Kara just wanted to be <em>Kara</em> with her. Not Kara Zor-El or Supergirl or Superman’s cousin. Just Kara. And who was she to deny her that identity when she could empathize? There were times when she wished she was just Lena. Not Lena Luthor, not CEO of L-Corp, not Lex’s sister. So, to hold that against Kara felt a little hypocritical, but even so, she couldn’t help but feel hurt, knowing that something so important, so integral, was kept from her.</p><p>Lena didn’t realize it at the time, but the night Kara came by and landed on her balcony with the watch to call her with, that was supposed to be their three-year friendiversary. Kara didn’t know it, but she’d given Lena another gift that year: a broken heart. It took them a lot of talking and a lot of unpacking to get past the pain they caused each other, but after a year of tears and intense therapy, they got back their friendship and even more once they admitted how they felt about each other. Their first kiss was unexpected for both of them. It was just another normal night of dinner at Lena’s and they were watching some random romcom on the TV when Lena noticed Kara kept looking her way. When Lena confronted her about it, Kara said something about her therapist telling her she needed to start asking for what she wanted, because no one was a mind-reader (she elected not to tell her about J’onn). So, she asked if she could have Lena. And Lena said yes.</p>
<hr/><p>VI. Six Times Lena Caught Kara Trying to Sneak in an Animal</p><p>It started innocently enough. At first, Kara would bring in little bugs in jars and keep them on a windowsill (and eventually released), but then it began to escalate. It became fish Kara saved from house fires, then birds who had flown into glass doors and were injured. Another time, Lena came home from work one evening and she smelled an unfamiliar scent in her apartment and called out for Kara.</p><p>When Kara came out of the bedroom, she was so obviously hiding something in her hoodie, something lumpy and wriggly. A tiny meow came from Kara’s stomach and Lena raised a sculpted eyebrow and waited for Kara’s explanation. It turned out that the kitten had been stuck inside a storm drain and Kara found it on her way home from work.</p><p>“It looked so cold and scared,” Kara said with a desperate look on her face. Lena found it nearly impossible to deny Kara anything, so they compromised, and Kara had to promise that she would kitten-proof the entire apartment.</p><p>So, now they had a cat, which Kara named Streaky II. </p><p>The next time Lena caught Kara trying to bring an animal into the apartment, it was when Kara had texted her earlier in the day and asked whether she had any towels that she didn’t use and asked how old the leftover pot roast in the refrigerator was. When she got home after work that night, her apartment looked like a tornado ran through it – or, perhaps, a Kryptonian with super-speed. There were tiny, muddy, paw prints all over her wood floor and right when she put her purse down on the counter, she heard a crash and a loud screech as the pitter-patter of little feet came running up to her. A golden retriever puppy jumped up onto Lena, wiping more dirt and mud onto her skirt and Kara rushed out and came to a screeching halt when she saw Lena, the fear of god in her eyes.</p><p>“I can explain,” she started to say.</p><p>Lena silenced her with a raised hand. “If I even sense dog pee anywhere in this penthouse, both of you are sleeping on the roof.”</p><p>And that’s how they got Krypto.</p><p>Kara included family photographs of the two of them with all of their pets in the book, each with their own silly captions and drawings in the margins. She knew why Kara loved animals so much, why she felt the need to take every single one of them in. Kara needed to protect, to save. She was sent to Earth to take care of Kal, but after being stuck in the Phantom Zone for over twenty years, she wasn’t needed when she got here. So, now she finds things that need her, and she takes care of them. It’s why she never gave up on Lena, because she needed her.</p>
<hr/><p>V. Five Times Kara Got Lena to Sing</p><p>Lena hated her singing voice. There were many things she excelled at, but singing was not one of them, nor was dancing, or any artsy-type thing. That was all Kara’s area of expertise. She remained comfortable with her academically-inclined brain and her affinity to figure out how to fix things just by looking at them. She’d never saw the need for expressing herself any other way, but once she met Kara, music was introduced into her life. Kara sang every chance she got – while she was cooking, in the shower, while folding laundry, humming while brushing her teeth.</p><p>Before she knew it, Lena owned a record player and a few choice records – all chosen by Kara, of course, and she became someone who sang to her pets. If her mother could only see her now, dancing around like a fool, so improper and uncouth. It wasn’t long before Lena was singing <em>in public</em>. For whatever reason, Kara loved karaoke and they would go out with their friends, get hammered, and find the cheesiest songs to sing. Kara would pull Lena up with her and shove a microphone into her hands, and they would belt out ‘Friday I’m in Love’ by the Cure, or something equally as horrible, but Lena didn’t mind. She was perfectly comfortable looking like an idiot in front of her idiot.</p>
<hr/><p>IV. Four Times Lena Went to Game Night</p><p>The first time Lena was invited to game night, she was so concerned with doing well that she bought every board game she could find and studied them. She read every single Trivial Pursuit card, found strategies for Monopoly, watched YouTube videos on how to draw in case they played Pictionary, and anything else she could find that would give her an edge. It never mattered, though, because whenever she was there, all she could think about was how much Kara smiled and laughed, and how their thighs touched when they sat next to each other on the couch.</p><p>That was the thing about being near Kara, she could always feel the Kryptonian’s presence. It wasn’t just the heat that radiated from her, but the warmth she felt from a look in her direction or hearing her loud, belly laugh in the distance. It was a full-body warmth that didn’t dissipate and only intensified as Kara got closer.</p><p>Whenever Lena showed up, Kara insisted on being her partner. Kara said she was her good luck charm, but really, their combined knowledge of pop culture (Kara) and everything else (Lena) meant the other teams never stood a chance, although Brainy and Nia did come close. Alex said it was cheating and Lena never understood how true that was until she discovered the Kara was set to be the youngest member of the Science Guild on Krypton. After that, Lena made sure they switched the teams up every month, much to Kara’s chagrin.</p><p>Lena never told anyone, but there were times where she’d pretend not to know answers, so others could get it, and she was sure some of the others did the same. Alex and Kelly’s knowledge of all things military and reality television was unmatched, but she knew for a fact that Alex would know the answer to the question <em>how many spin-offs of </em>90-Day Fiancé<em> have there been</em>.</p><p>Lena often wondered if that’s what it was supposed to feel like to have a family – to know people more than they knew themselves and to pick up on their quirks and cues. She was still new to all of it and wasn’t sure where the boundaries stood, so she did her best to walk the very thin line between family and friend when it came to the super friends, as they insisted on being called. It took a long time for Lena to start feeling like she belonged, but that was mostly because of her self-imposed isolation after everything that happened with Lex and <em>Non Nocere</em>. She’d hurt a lot of people and said a lot of things she didn’t mean out of pain and spite. But, Kara told her she’d been forgiven, because that’s what family does. They forgive. It was a work in progress, but slowly Lena would eventually understand what Kara meant by <em>stronger together</em>.</p>
<hr/><p>III. Three Times Lena Cried Because of Kara</p><p>The Fortress of Solitude, a place as cold as Lena’s heart – at least, that’s what she tried to convince herself. The place where Lena used kryptonite on the person she loved the most. The place where she confronted Supergirl and told her everything, let those thick walls break down and told Kara how much her betrayal hurt her and how trust was something she thought they’d had a mutual understanding about. Kara took her back there once, so they could confront their demons. There was more crying, but this time there wasn’t any kryptonite, and they left the fortress together.</p><p>When Kara told Lena she loved her the first time, Lena cried – not because she didn’t feel the same way, or even because she <em>did</em> feel the same way, but because she couldn’t remember the last time someone had actually told her that and meant it. It could have been Jack or even Sam. She didn’t count the time her mother said it with the Truth Seeker, because that wasn’t of her own free will, but when Kara said it, Lena <em>felt</em> it. It was ridiculous how three little words could make her feel like she wasn’t an orphan and that her brother wasn’t homicidal, or that she’d spent the better part of a year trying to create a program that would rid people of the ability to harm each other and the next three years trying to undo all of it.</p><p>Kara saying those three words reminded Lena that she wasn’t a monster and that she didn’t deserve the pain she’d been caused. Kara forgave her, the super friends forgave her. All she needed to do was forgive herself. That was a work in progress, too.</p>
<hr/><p>As Lena neared the end of the book Kara left her, she saw that Kara had scrawled out a sentence that said the third time Lena cried hadn’t happened yet, and to stop reading there. Lena furrowed her brow, but she obeyed and quickly sent a text to Kara to say she stopped where Kara told her to. Kara replied and told her she’d be home the next day and sent her a photo of her, Alex, and Eliza smiling at the camera and wearing their ugly sweaters. Lena laughed at the photograph and set it as her wallpaper on her personal phone.</p><p>True to her word, Kara came home the next evening with food and desserts from all over the world (a few pit stops, Kara said they were). They ate them together and sat in front of Lena’s fireplace with Streaky II and Krypto. There was one more potsticker left in the container and Kara offered it to Lena. Surprised, Lena declined and Kara popped it into her mouth with a big smile.</p><p>“Where’s the book?” she asked.</p><p>“On the nightstand,” Lena replied, jerking her head sideways toward the bedroom. Kara stood up and came back with the book in hand, sitting back down next to Lena. She flipped through the pages and opened it up to the chapter where Lena left off.</p><p>“The last two chapters were for me,” Kara explained. “I mean, for me to read to you.” Lena cozied up to Kara, wrapping a big blanket around both of them and Kara started reading. “Two times I knew I was in love with you. The first was when you told me you thought I was a reporter. I didn’t know it was love, but I knew I wanted to know you and be your friend from that moment. It’s why I kept trying to meet up with you and found excuses to see you. I didn’t realize it was love until much later on when I realized I didn’t feel this way about any of my other friends.</p><p>“And, okay, maybe Alex had to slap some sense into me - literally - but I figured it out on my own! But really, when I realized that I only wanted to share my potstickers with you and only you forever, that’s when I knew. So, yeah. I love you.” Kara took a deep breath after her rambling and Lena just smiled at her. “What? Too much?”</p><p>Lena leaned in close and kissed Kara gently. “Never too much. I love you, too. And the second that Alex noticed that you shared your potstickers with me, I’m pretty sure her eyebrows shot up to the ceiling. I also got the shovel talk that night.”</p><p>“<em>What?</em> Oh, I’m gonna kill her.”</p><p>“It’s fine, honey. She was nice about it, or as nice as once could be when giving a shovel talk. Now, come on. Read me the last chapter.”</p><p>Kara closed the book. “Um, it’s not in here.”</p><p>Lena eyed her curiously. “What do you mean it’s not in there?” Kara stood up and went back into the bedroom for a minute and re-emerged soon after, holding an ornate wooden box in her hands. She knelt beside Lena and held it out to her. Taking it into her hands carefully, Lena examined it closely and raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“Open it,” Kara urged, and Lena lifted the lid. Inside were two golden bracelets and a piece of paper folded in half. Lena swore her heart stopped beating when she saw what was inside and set the box down, so she could take the note out.</p><p>“One Time Lena Got Proposed To,” she read. Her eyes immediately started to fill with tears and Kara reached out to hold her hands.</p><p>“For the longest time, after I’d lost Krypton, I thought I lost my home, my family. When I’m with you, I don’t feel lost. I know it’s cliché to say this, but you’re my home. You’re who I want to build a family with and share potstickers with and--”</p><p>“Yes,” Lena interrupted, wiping tears off her cheek.</p><p>“I didn’t even ask you yet!”</p><p>“Well, hurry up!” Lena exclaimed with a laugh.</p><p>Kara took the bracelets out of the box and took one of Lena’s hands in hers. “Lena Luthor, <em>:zhao</em>, we’ve been through so much together the past seven years. We’ve hurt each other, made each other cry, loved fiercely, completely, wholly. I wouldn’t trade any of it, because it all led us here, to this moment. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. Will you marry me?”</p><p>“Finally,” Lena sighed and pulled Kara into a kiss, climbing into her lap. Kara wrapped her arms around Lena’s waist and held her close, their lips pressing together as if they were meant to fit. When Lena’s human lungs needed air, she reluctantly pulled away and nuzzled her face into Kara’s neck, hugging her tight.</p><p>“I’m guessing that’s a yes,” Kara chuckled, hugging her back.</p><p>“It’s a <em>yes, always</em>,” Lena replied.</p><p>Kara hummed and they sat in silence for a few seconds until Kara straightened up. “What exactly did you and Alex discuss during your shovel talk?”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure that’s confidential.”</p><p>Kara looked at her nervously. “She didn’t happen to mention what happened when you and I were fighting, did she?”</p><p>“Oh, you mean getting drunk on alien alcohol and barging in on her and Kelly in the middle of them having sex and refusing to leave until they listened to you cry about me? She may have alluded to it. She also told me if we ever fight like that again, she’s changing her locks and lining her entire apartment in kryptonite until we make up.”</p><p>“I am going to <em>kill</em> her.”</p>
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